Geeks on Tour is member supported. This FREE newsletter is made possible by our paid (Premium) members. Member benefits include access to over 500 tutorial videos, asking questions on ‘Ask the Geeks’ forum, Show Notes for our weekly show,“What Does This Button Do?” and all our eBooks including Mrs Geek’s Guide to Google Photos.Join todayAlready a member? THANK YOU!

Geeks in November

On November 1, we were home, but then Chris flew to California for the Google Product Experts Summit. She took advantage of the free flight from Google to take a few extra days and visit Morro Bay, and her old friend, Liz. Chris lived in Morro Bay and practiced law with Liz in 1981-83.

If you want to hear more about the Google Product Expert Summit, check out Michael Daniel’s YouTube video. I joined Michael, who is also a Google Product Expert, and we spent about an hour chatting and sharing photos about the event. ​​​

Episode 156: How to use a smartphone to scan documents and create .pdf files

By the way, our pictures, Blogs, Web Albums, maps, and videos are all examples of what we teach. You can learn how to plan, navigate, and remember your life’s events. It makes the experience that much more enjoyable to get creative and share pictures, maps, stories, and movies with friends and family. Check out our Learning Library of Tutorial Videos, just go to GeeksOnTour.com and click the menu for Tutorials. There are plenty of free videos in addition to our members-only content to whet your appetite for learning. ​​​​​​​

If you are a member, ask a question! Go to GeeksOnTour.com then click the Q&A menu. Make sure you are logged in (there’s a form on the Q&A page), select a category (Photos, Maps, Blogs, Other) then click Add Topic. When finished scroll down to Submit Topic.

Traffic on Google Maps or Waze

Both Waze and Google maps can give you turn-by-turn voice directed navigation.

How to use Depth Editor and Color Pop in Google Photos

Have you ever wished you could make a photo of a flower, or a person, really stand out – with the main subject in color and the rest in black and white?

Now you can!

It’s called Color Pop, and it is a new feature from our friends at Google Photos. It was announced along with Live Albums on Google’s product blog on October 9, 2018. At the time it was only available on the Pixel phone, but it has arrived on the iPhone now as well.

How to trim your videos on your phone

You don’t want to miss a second of your granddaughter’s graduation ceremony, so you start the video camera rolling as she’s walking up to the stage. Now you wish you hadn’t done that! Nobody wants to watch the 3 minutes of her walking, they just want to see her step onto the stage and get her diploma.

Leave us a Review

How to share your location with Google Maps

With these smartphone/GPS devices in our pockets all the time, there are now many different ways to share your location. Apple has the “Find my friends” app, Facebook messenger (and many other texting apps) have a button to “Send Location.” If you’re like me and my husband, we like to make it easy and just let each other know where we are at all times. It’s easy with Google Maps.

Maybe you’re a fulltime RVer with kids who worry about you a lot. Rather than calling them every day, you could let them see your position on a map that they could look at as often as they like.

That’s all for now. We hope you learned something. Your next issue will be next month. Any questions, please visit our forum. If you like this newsletter, please forward it on to your friends! If you received this issue forwarded by a friend you can subscribe to get your own copy delivered to your in box – it’s free. You can also visit the archives of past newsletters,

See our Google Reviews here — Geeks on Tour is member supported. This FREE newsletter is made possible by our paid (Premium) members. Member benefits include access to over 500 tutorial videos, asking questions on ‘Ask the Geeks’ forum, Show Notes for our weekly show,“What Does This Button Do?” and all our eBooks including Mrs Geek’s Guide to Google Photos.Join todayAlready a member? THANK YOU!

Geeks in November

On November 1, we were home, but then Chris flew to California for the Google Product Experts Summit. She took advantage of the free flight from Google to take a few extra days and visit Morro Bay, and her old friend, Liz. Chris lived in Morro Bay and practiced law with Liz in 1981-83.

If you want to hear more about the Google Product Expert Summit, check out Michael Daniel’s YouTube video. I joined Michael, who is also a Google Product Expert, and we spent about an hour chatting and sharing photos about the event. ​​​

Episode 156: How to use a smartphone to scan documents and create .pdf files

By the way, our pictures, Blogs, Web Albums, maps, and videos are all examples of what we teach. You can learn how to plan, navigate, and remember your life’s events. It makes the experience that much more enjoyable to get creative and share pictures, maps, stories, and movies with friends and family. Check out our Learning Library of Tutorial Videos, just go to GeeksOnTour.com and click the menu for Tutorials. There are plenty of free videos in addition to our members-only content to whet your appetite for learning. ​​​​​​​

If you are a member, ask a question! Go to GeeksOnTour.com then click the Q&A menu. Make sure you are logged in (there’s a form on the Q&A page), select a category (Photos, Maps, Blogs, Other) then click Add Topic. When finished scroll down to Submit Topic.

Traffic on Google Maps or Waze

Both Waze and Google maps can give you turn-by-turn voice directed navigation.

How to use Depth Editor and Color Pop in Google Photos

Have you ever wished you could make a photo of a flower, or a person, really stand out – with the main subject in color and the rest in black and white?

Now you can!

It’s called Color Pop, and it is a new feature from our friends at Google Photos. It was announced along with Live Albums on Google’s product blog on October 9, 2018. At the time it was only available on the Pixel phone, but it has arrived on the iPhone now as well.

How to trim your videos on your phone

You don’t want to miss a second of your granddaughter’s graduation ceremony, so you start the video camera rolling as she’s walking up to the stage. Now you wish you hadn’t done that! Nobody wants to watch the 3 minutes of her walking, they just want to see her step onto the stage and get her diploma.

Leave us a Review

How to share your location with Google Maps

With these smartphone/GPS devices in our pockets all the time, there are now many different ways to share your location. Apple has the “Find my friends” app, Facebook messenger (and many other texting apps) have a button to “Send Location.” If you’re like me and my husband, we like to make it easy and just let each other know where we are at all times. It’s easy with Google Maps.

Maybe you’re a fulltime RVer with kids who worry about you a lot. Rather than calling them every day, you could let them see your position on a map that they could look at as often as they like.

That’s all for now. We hope you learned something. Your next issue will be next month. Any questions, please visit our forum. If you like this newsletter, please forward it on to your friends! If you received this issue forwarded by a friend you can subscribe to get your own copy delivered to your in box – it’s free. You can also visit the archives of past newsletters,

— Geeks on Tour is member supported. This FREE newsletter is made possible by our paid (Premium) members. Member benefits include access to over 500 tutorial videos, asking questions on ‘Ask the Geeks’ forum, Show Notes for our weekly show,“What Does This Button Do?” and all our eBooks including Mrs Geek’s Guide to Google Photos.

Geeks in September

September started in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where we were surprised to discover a wonderful aquarium. We were headed to Goshen, Indiana for the Discovery Owners rally. We stopped along the way in Springfield, Illinois – staying in the exact same site we had a couple months ago at the fairgrounds. Weird.

After that rally, we headed south to the next rally – The RV Travel Club – in Sevierville, TN. Along the way we stayed at a very nice park in Rocky Top, Tennessee – really! And, we visited the museum of Appalachia – that is pictured above. See our photo album for September for the results. That’s it for September – still at the RV Travel Club rally.

​​​​​​​By the way, our pictures, Blogs, Web Albums, maps, and videos are all examples of what we teach. You can learn how to plan, preserve, and share your travels (or your life.) It makes the experience that much more enjoyable to get creative and share pictures, maps, stories, and movies with friends and family. Check out our Learning Library of Tutorial Videos, just go toGeeksOnTour.com and click the menu for Tutorials. There are plenty of free videos in addition to our members-only content to whet your appetite for learning. ​​​​​​​

If you are a member, ask a question! Go to GeeksOnTour.com then click the Q&A menu. Make sure you are logged in (there’s a form on the Q&A page), select a category (Photos, Maps, Blogs, Other) then click Add Topic. When finished scroll down to Submit Topic.

How to keep your Facebook account safe

I wrote this article over four years ago, but with Facebook, everything old is new again. I have reviewed and updated all the information. The scam that is going around today is that you’ve been “hacked” because your friends are getting new friend requests from you. They aren’t. Don’t copy and paste that rumor, it’s just meaningless graffiti that someone else copied and pasted.

However, we think this should prompt you into checking your privacy settings. It is quite easy to prevent the “friend request hack” from ever happening just by making your friend list private. This article tells you how. Plus more general privacy and security settings.

For years, I’ve wanted a simple system for storing business cards people give me along my travels. The operative word is simple! Sometimes they’re important, like my insurance agent’s card, and sometimes it’s just friendly, like the camper next door who tells us to stop by if we ever pass near their home. Sometimes it’s just a scrap of paper with a name and phone number written on it!

Smartphone Help Desk – One on One Teaching

If you’ve attended a rally where Geeks on Tour were presenting, you may have seen Chris (aka Mrs. Geek) sitting with someone and teaching them about their smartphone.

Sometimes the questions are easy like: how to use their fingerprint reader, how to adjust their screen timeout setting, how to install my favorite app: Google Photos, or how to use the keyboard to type word by word – called swiping or gliding.

Sometimes the questions are hard, like: why does my iPad not automatically connect to the data on my iPhone like it’s supposed to? or How do I get back in to my original Facebook account when I forgot the password and mistakenly created another account?

Leave us a Review

Have you learned something from Geeks on Tour?

If so, we’d love to get a review from you. Click onthis link (then scroll down to reviews if needed) First you’ll be asked for a rating by stars – 5 is appreciated! Then, please write some comments. Did you learn from us in person? or from videos on our website? Do you watch our weekly What Does This Button Do show? Do you learn from our newsletters? How has your use of technology improved?

That’s all for now. We hope you learned something. Your next issue will be next month. Any questions, please visit our forum. If you like this newsletter, please forward it on to your friends! If you received this issue forwarded by a friend you can subscribe to get your own copy delivered to your in box – it’s free. You can also visit the archives of past newsletters,

Happy Computing!

The Geeks on Tour website is an online learning library for Travelers who want to learn to use their computers and mobile devices for managing digital photos, making blogs, using maps and other online resources. Anyone can get our free weekly tech lesson, read articles on our Computer Tips for Travelers Blog, sign up for our free newsletter. A small fee makes you a ‘member‘ and you can then ask us anything on our Q&A page, view any of our 500+ video tutorials on these subjects in our Learning LIbrary, and get written notes and eBooks of our lessons.

— Geeks on Tour is member supported. This FREE newsletter is made possible by our paid (Premium) members. Member benefits include access to over 500 tutorial videos, asking questions on ‘Ask the Geeks’ forum, Show Notes for our weekly show,“What Does This Button Do?” and all our eBooks including Mrs Geek’s Guide to Google Photos.
​​​​​​​Join todayAlready a member? THANK YOU!

Geeks in August

August was different for us, we had several weeks of wandering and discovery with nothing on our schedule. And, it just so happened that we were in one of the most beautiful areas of the country – Colorado. We took advantage of the Roadtrippers app to find cool things to do. See ourphoto album for August for the results. We ended the month at the Safari 30th Anniversary RV Rally in Shawnee, OK and really enjoyed being back at work!

By the way, our pictures, Blogs, Web Albums, maps, and videos are all examples of what we teach. You can learn how to plan, preserve, and share your travels (or your life.) It makes the experience that much more enjoyable to get creative and share pictures, maps, stories, and movies with friends and family. Check out our Learning Library of Tutorial Videos, just go to GeeksOnTour.com and click the menu for Tutorials. There are plenty of free videos in addition to our members-only content to whet your appetite for learning. ​​​​​​​

If you are a member, ask a question! Go to GeeksOnTour.com then click the Q&A menu. Make sure you are logged in (there’s a form on the Q&A page), select a category (Photos, Maps, Blogs, Other) then click Add Topic. When finished scroll down to Submit Topic.

Do you plan road trips? I think you’ll like Roadtrippers and RVParky.

We’ve been doing a lot of trip planning this summer! Be sure to check out Episode 151: Trip Planning in addition to this article.

The way I see it, trip planning has 5 parts, and I’ve listed my favorite tool for each part.

Research: looking for things you want to see, places you want to go. Roadtrippers.com

Google Photos: How to view your photos in order by date-uploaded rather than date-taken

When you use Google Photos to store your pictures, they are organized in one great big stream, by date the photo was taken. The most recent photo is on the top, as you scroll down you’re going back in time. On a mobile device you can pinch the screen until you see your photos grouped by year and month.

Old Photos get lost

A friend of mine just uploaded a group of old photos from her computer to Google Photos. When she opened Google Photos, she expected to see those photos at the top. When they weren’t there, she assumed she had done something wrong …

How to use Group Photo Albums

We go to a lot of RV Rallies. At some of them, we helped coordinate a shared photo album so that anyone in the group could post their photos to the album and all could see the combined group of photos. We do it with a Google Photos shared album.

The webmaster for the last rally where we did this told us that it made his job so much easier. The pictures just appeared – people didn’t need to send them to him for uploading to the website.

Mrs. Geek’s Guide to Google Photos now available on Amazon.

Leave us a Review

Have you learned something from Geeks on Tour?

If so, we’d love to get a review from you. Click onthis link (then scroll down to reviews if needed) First you’ll be asked for a rating by stars – 5 is appreciated! Then, please write some comments. Did you learn from us in person? or from videos on our website? Do you watch our weekly What Does This Button Do show? Do you learn from our newsletters? How has your use of technology improved?

That’s all for now. We hope you learned something. Your next issue will be next month. Any questions, please visit our forum. If you like this newsletter, please forward it on to your friends! If you received this issue forwarded by a friend you can subscribe to get your own copy delivered to your in box – it’s free. You can also visit the archives of past newsletters,

— Geeks on Tour is member supported. This FREE newsletter is made possible by our paid (Premium) members. Member benefits include access to over 500 tutorial videos, asking questions on ‘Ask the Geeks’ forum, Show Notes for our weekly show,“What Does This Button Do?” and all our eBooks including Mrs Geek’s Guide to Google Photos.
​​​​​​​Join todayAlready a member? THANK YOU!

Geeks in July

To say that we had a full July is an understatement. It started on a liveaboard dive trip in the Cayman Islands, then continued back to the RV driving from Michigan to Wyoming for the FMCA rally in Gillette, then we did some sightseeing in Devils Tower, Yellowstone, and Tetons. On the last day of July, we were at our favorite hot springs, the Fountain of Youth RV park in Thermopolis, Wyoming. Our photo album for July is impressive, if I do say so myself!

Episode 148: Geeks on Tour Seminars, how to learn on our website (a short, pre-recorded episode with photos from Wyoming)

By the way, our pictures, Blogs, Web Albums, maps, and videos are all examples of what we teach. You can learn how to plan, preserve, and share your travels (or your life.) It makes the experience that much more enjoyable to get creative and share pictures, maps, stories, and movies with friends and family. Check out our Learning Library of Tutorial Videos, just go to GeeksOnTour.com and click the menu for Tutorials. There are plenty of free videos in addition to our members-only content to whet your appetite for learning. ​​​​​​​

Watch our next Button show!

We are currently in the Denver area and staying at Elks Lodge #2227 in Westminster. The last time we were here was 4 years ago when we webcastEpisode #1 of What Does This Button Do? How exciting, we will do Episode #149tomorrow from this same spot! Sunday, August 5, at 2pm Mountain time, (that’s 1pm Pacific, 3 Central and 4 Eastern time.) Episode 149 will be about things we’ve learned about being in the wilds of Wyoming. How we coped with little or no Internet, and often no electricity either.

If you are a member, ask a question! Go to GeeksOnTour.com then click the Q&A menu. Make sure you are logged in (there’s a form on the Q&A page), select a category (Photos, Maps, Blogs, Other) then click Add Topic. When finished scroll down to Submit Topic.

How to use Google Photos Editing Tools: Crop

Do you think you can’t get a good picture of that bald eagle with your smartphone? Take it anyway! You may be surprised at how good you can make it look with just a couple of tweaks from Google Photos editing tools.

Most every photo can be improved with a simple crop. It can cut out extraneous items in the photo and get closer to your subject. It can also change the aspect ratio of the photo.

Mrs. Geek’s Guide to Google Photos now available on Amazon.

Maximizing Battery Life when you are Off-Grid

We just spent the last week in some beautiful national parks – Yellowstone and Grand Tetons – there was very little cell service in those parks! We could live with that, we wanted to spend most of our time out doors taking pictures. The distressing thing was how fast my phone’s battery ran down. Guess what?!

The Legend of Tioga George

Leave us a Review

Have you learned something from Geeks on Tour?

If so, we’d love to get a review from you. Click on this linkthen scroll down until you can click on Write a Review. First you’ll be asked for a rating by stars – 5 is appreciated! Then, please write some comments. Did you learn from us in person? or from videos on our website? Do you watch our weekly What Does This Button Do show? Do you learn from our newsletters? How has your use of technology improved?

That’s all for now. We hope you learned something. Your next issue will be next month. Any questions, please visit our forum. If you like this newsletter, please forward it on to your friends! If you received this issue forwarded by a friend you can subscribe to get your own copy delivered to your in box – it’s free. You can also visit the archives of past newsletters,

Happy Computing!

The Geeks on Tour website is an online learning library for Travelers who want to learn to use their computers and mobile devices for managing digital photos, making blogs, using maps and other online resources. Anyone can get our free weekly tech lesson, read articles on our Computer Tips for Travelers Blog, sign up for our free newsletter. A small fee makes you a ‘member‘ and you can then ask us anything on our Q&A page, view any of our 500+ video tutorials on these subjects in our Learning LIbrary, and get written notes and eBooks of our lessons.

— Geeks on Tour is member supported. This FREE newsletter is made possible by our paid (Premium) members. Member benefits include access to over 500 tutorial videos, asking questions on ‘Ask the Geeks’ forum, Show Notes for our weekly show,“What Does This Button Do?” and all our eBooks including Mrs Geek’s Guide to Google Photos.
​​​​​​​Join todayAlready a member? THANK YOU!

Geeks in June

In the beginning of June we were in between rallies. We took advantage of a week’s free time to do some sightseeing – the Lincoln Presidential museum in Springfield, Illinois; a horse show at the fairgrounds where we were staying, and a bike ride from our campground in Indiana Dunes National seashore. Then it was on to the next rally, Glamarama in Allegan, Michican. Then came the weird part … we left our Roadtrek in Michigan and flew home to go on vacation!

Right now we are in the Cayman Islands getting ready to board theCayman Aggressor dive boat for a week of scuba diving to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. So, don’t expect to hear from us until July 8!

By the way, our pictures, Blogs, Web Albums, maps, and videos are all examples of what we teach. You can learn how to plan, preserve, and share your travels (or your life.) It makes the experience that much more enjoyable to get creative and share pictures, maps, stories, and movies with friends and family. Check out our Learning Library of Tutorial Videos, just go to GeeksOnTour.com and click the menu for Tutorials. There are plenty of free videos in addition to our members-only content to whet your appetite for learning. ​​​​​​​

If you are a member, ask a question! Go to GeeksOnTour.com then click the Q&A menu. Make sure you are logged in (there’s a form on the Q&A page), select a category (Photos, Maps, Blogs, Other) then click Add Topic. When finished scroll down to Submit Topic.

Read a QR code and get the new, 2nd Edition to Mrs. Geek’s Guide to Google Photos

Google Photos keeps changing, so we’ve updated our book! All our eBooks are always available to our premium members on the member eBook page of our website.

My smartphone helps me with time zone confusion.

Traveling across time zones can be so confusing when you need to call someone, or get to an online meeting at the right time. After 14 years of RVing, you’d think I’d have it figured out. That’s where the real problems start … when I think I have it figured out! Invariably, I adjust my time in the wrong direction. Now I let my smartphone tell me what to do!

Chromebooks

Our Chromebooks are the only computers we take on vacation. Here you see Jim using his Chromebook for our Facebook Live session from our hotel in Grand Cayman.

Why take computers at all? Well, our business is our website. We are able to take more vacations because we can operate our business from anywhere. Don’t worry, they don’t go underwater with us. We are truly on vacation when we’re scuba diving.

This article discusses the 2 Chromebooks we brought and how we’ve probably bought our last Windows computers ever.

Leave us a Review

Have you learned something from Geeks on Tour?

If so, we’d love to get a review from you. Click on this linkthen scroll down until you can click on Write a Review. First you’ll be asked for a rating by stars – 5 is appreciated! Then, please write some comments. Did you learn from us in person? or from videos on our website? Do you watch our weekly What Does This Button Do show? Do you learn from our newsletters? How has your use of technology improved?

Chris — Geeks on Tour is member supported. This FREE newsletter is made possible by our paid (Premium) members. Member benefits include access to over 500 tutorial videos, asking questions on ‘Ask the Geeks’ forum, Show Notes for our weekly show,“What Does This Button Do?” and all our eBooks including Mrs Geek’s Guide to Google Photos.​​​​​​​Join todayAlready a member? THANK YOU!

Geeks in May

In the beginning of May we joined a group of scuba divers from USA Dive Club and went to Bimini, Bahamas for a long weekend of diving. Then it was time to pack the camper and start our summer tour of RV rallies. Driving 1,400 miles in 3 days took us from home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to the Escapade rally in Sedalia, MO. There we taught a 2-day hands-on smartphone photography class where one of our students, Mike McIlraith, made the license plate collage you see above. Isn’t that cool?! Thanks Mike!

By the way, our pictures, Blogs, Web Albums, maps, and videos are all examples of what we teach. You can learn how to plan, preserve, and share your travels (or your life.) It makes the experience that much more enjoyable to get creative and share pictures, maps, stories, and movies with friends and family. Check out our Learning Library of Tutorial Videos, just go to GeeksOnTour.com and click the menu for Tutorials. There are plenty of free videos in addition to our members-only content to whet your appetite for learning.

If you are a member, ask a question! Go to GeeksOnTour.com then click the Q&A menu. Make sure you are logged in (there’s a form on the Q&A page), select a category (Photos, Maps, Blogs, Other) then click Add Topic. When finished scroll down to Submit Topic.

Add fun to your road trips

We just finished the Escapade rally in Sedalia, MO, and our next stop is in Michigan for the FMCA Great Lakes area rally called Glamarama. We have a week to get there so I wanted to find one or two fun things to do along the way. That is exactly where Roadtrippers excels.

Get away, stay connected: Our life on tour

We can have our wilderness and do our work too. We spend months at a time in our Roadtrek camper van. Most of the time we park at places with hookups. That means we plug the RV in to a power source, and now we have air conditioning, TV, and power plugs for all our computers, coffee makers and anything else we need.

We also like to park where there are no hookups. In this article, we share a bit about what our life is like as we travel, and work on the road in our completely self-contained camper van.

Techno-Geeks and GPS Systems

You may remember, back in 2012, we put on our own rally called the Techno-Geek Learning Rally. That was when TechnoRV was owned by the founders, Phil and Tracey May. Phil and Tracey became very good friends of ours and we were distressed when they sold the business (we now visit them in England). How they found the perfect new owners is a miracle – but they did!

Leave us a Review

Have you learned something from Geeks on Tour?

If so, we’d love to get a review from you. Click on this linkthen scroll down until you can click on Write a Review. First you’ll be asked for a rating by stars – 5 is appreciated! Then, please write some comments. Did you learn from us in person? or from videos on our website? Do you watch our weekly What Does This Button Do show? Do you learn from our newsletters? How has your use of technology improved?

That’s all for now. We hope you learned something. Your next issue will be next month. Any questions, please visit our forum. If you like this newsletter, please forward it on to your friends! If you received this issue forwarded by a friend you can subscribe to get your own copy delivered to your in box – it’s free. You can also visit the archives of past newsletters,

Happy Computing!

The Geeks on Tour website is an online learning library for Travelers who want to learn to use their computers and mobile devices for managing digital photos, making blogs, using maps and other online resources. Anyone can get our free weekly tech lesson, read articles on our Computer Tips for Travelers Blog, sign up for our free newsletter. A small fee makes you a ‘member‘ and you can then ask us anything on our Q&A page, view any of our 500+ video tutorials on these subjects in our Learning LIbrary, and get written notes and eBooks of our lessons.

— Geeks on Tour is member supported. This FREE newsletter is made possible by our paid (Premium) members. Member benefits include access to over 500 tutorial videos, asking questions on ‘Ask the Geeks’ forum, Show Notes for our weekly show,“What Does This Button Do?” and all our eBooks including Mrs Geek’s Guide to Google Photos.
​​​​​​​Join todayAlready a member? THANK YOU!

Geeks in April

Mid April we went to the Roadtrek rally in Silver Springs, Florida. Then we flew to Las Vegas for the WARE rally – Western Area Rally for Escapees. We extended our stay and hoped to do some sightseeing in Las Vegas, but we both caught colds and just stayed in bed in the hotel for 3 days.

By the way, our pictures, Blogs, Web Albums, maps, and videos are all examples of what we teach. You can learn how to plan, preserve, and share your travels (or your life.) It makes the experience that much more enjoyable to get creative and share pictures, maps, stories, and movies with friends and family. Check out our Learning Library of Tutorial Videos, just go to GeeksOnTour.com and click the menu for Tutorials. There are plenty of free videos in addition to our members-only content to whet your appetite for learning.

If you are a member, ask a question! Go to GeeksOnTour.com then click the Q&A menu. Make sure you are logged in (there’s a form on the Q&A page), select a category (Photos, Maps, Blogs, Other) then click Add Topic. When finished scroll down to Submit Topic.

When you lose your phone, you’ll wish you had done this!

On both Android and iOS devices there is a website to find a lost phone. For Apple iOS, it is iCloud.com and for Android it’s Google.com/android/find (or I just do a Google search for “Find my android”) We teach this in many of our seminars, mainly as a way to point out the importance of knowing the account and password associated with your phone. See Episode 137 for more on finding your username and password and a demonstration of find my phone.

If you know the username and password for your phone, you can go to the website above, using any computer, and find your phone. You will see a map, with the location pinpointed, and you will have 3 choices,
1. Play a sound: to locate your phone if it is nearby
2. Lost mode: to lock the screen and display a message with a phone number where the owner can be reached
3. Erase phone: if you think it has been stolen

But, none of the above will work if you have not turned on the setting for your phone first. So, how about taking out your phone right now and making sure your “find my phone” setting is on.

Google Photos Backup is gone, now it’s Google Backup and Sync

The transition from Google Photos Backup to Google Backup and Sync has been going on for a while. We first covered it in Episode 125 of our “Button” show, Google Photos, what’s new?And, again in Episode 138: Google Photos: How to include pictures from your computer. And, here is the official help page on Backup and Sync.

What you need to know

This only affects your computer, not your mobile devices. Backup and Sync is the desktop software that will automatically upload photos from your computer’s drives to your Google account in the cloud.

You only need this if you have a lot of photos on your computer. If you just have a few, it is easy to manually upload them to your Google Photos account, don’t bother with Backup and Sync.

If you do have thousands of pictures on your computer that you want uploaded to your Google Photos account, then you want the free …

Using your smartphone for airplane boarding passes is not always ideal, here’s a tip!

I may love technology, but I hate fumbling with my phone when I’m holding up a line of people. This is one area I prefer the old fashioned method. I want a printed boarding pass.

There’s just no doubt that I can carry that in my pocket and get it out at the appropriate time for the attendant to scan, without holding anybody up. If I’m depending on my phone to display this code, odds are it will display perfectly until I’m the next person to reach the attendant, then my screen will blank out.This is default placeholder text. Edit and replace with whatever you want.

The e-ticket is great it you can’t get a printed copy though … so I have a tip for you …

Leave us a Review

Have you learned something from Geeks on Tour?

If so, we’d love to get a review from you. Click on this link and then scroll down until you can click on Write a Review. First you’ll be asked for a rating by stars – 5 is appreciated! Then, please write some comments. Did you learn from us in person? or from videos on our website? Do you watch our weekly What Does This Button Do show? Do you learn from our newsletters? How has your use of technology improved?

That’s all for now. We hope you learned something. Your next issue will be next month. Any questions, please visit our forum. If you like this newsletter, please forward it on to your friends! If you received this issue forwarded by a friend you can subscribe to get your own copy delivered to your in box – it’s free. You can also visit the archives of past newsletters,

Happy Computing!

The Geeks on Tour website is an online learning library for Travelers who want to learn to use their computers and mobile devices for managing digital photos, making blogs, using maps and other online resources. Anyone can watch our free videos, read articles on our Computer Tips for Travelers Blog, sign up for our free monthly newsletter. A small fee makes you a ‘member‘ and you can then view any of our 450+ video tutorials on these subjects in our Learning LIbrary.

— Geeks on Tour is member supported. This FREE newsletter is made possible by our paid (Premium) members. Member benefits include access to over 400 tutorial videos, asking questions on ‘Ask the Geeks’ forum, Show Notes for our weekly show,“What Does This Button Do?” and all our eBooks including Mrs Geek’s Guide to Google Photos.​​​​​​​Join todayAlready a member? THANK YOU!

Geeks in March

Mid March we went to the FMCA Convention in Perry, Georgia. Then we were back home for the end of March. The weather finally cooperated enough to let us go kayak diving on the last day of lobster season.

By the way, our pictures, Blogs, Web Albums, maps, and videos are all examples of what we teach. You can learn how to plan, preserve, and share your travels (or your life.) It makes the experience that much more enjoyable to get creative and share pictures, maps, stories, and movies with friends and family. Check out our Learning Library of Tutorial Videos, just go to GeeksOnTour.com and click the menu for Tutorials. There are plenty of free videos in addition to our members-only content to whet your appetite for learning.

Smartphone Photography class

Do you like the photo on the right? If so, do you know how to do that with your phone?

I took both photos with my iPhone 7 Plus. The one on the right used the camera setting called “Portrait” to keep the flowers in focus and blur the background. Not all phones have this feature, but many do. On your phone it may be called Lens Blur, or Live Focus. It may be something that you see as you take the photo, or it may be something you adjust after the photo is taken.

Notice the class in our calendar above, May 25 and 26 in Sedalia, Missouri. It’s called Camp Reboot because it’s about technology. This class is all about using the camera on your smartphone.

GeeksOnTour.com Website Tips

We’re updating the website all the time. There are nearly 1,000 articles, 500 videos, and 132 What Does this Button Do Episodes. How do you find what you want? Here are some tips on how to get to the best stuff!

That’s all for now. We hope you learned something. Your next issue will be next month. Any questions, please visit our forum. If you like this newsletter, please forward it on to your friends! If you received this issue forwarded by a friend you can subscribe to get your own copy delivered to your in box – it’s free. You can also visit the archives of past newsletters,

Happy Computing!

The Geeks on Tour website is an online learning library for Travelers who want to learn to use their computers and mobile devices for managing digital photos, making blogs, using maps and other online resources. Anyone can watch our free videos, read articles on our Computer Tips for Travelers Blog, sign up for our free monthly newsletter. A small fee makes you a ‘member‘ and you can then view any of our 450+ video tutorials on these subjects in our Learning LIbrary.

Geeks — Geeks on Tour is member supported. This FREE newsletter is made possible by our paid (Premium) members. Member benefits include access to over 400 tutorial videos, asking questions on ‘Ask the Geeks’ forum, Show Notes for our weekly show,“What Does This Button Do?” and all our eBooks including Mrs Geek’s Guide to Google Photos.​​​​​​​Join todayAlready a member? THANK YOU!

Geeks in February

February began in the Tampa Bay area. The photo above is from Fort DeSoto park in St. Petersburg. Don’t you think that photo looks extra good? I enhanced it using the free Snapseed app – see the article later in this newsletter to learn exactly how.

​​​​​​​We made appearances at 3 RV parks and 3 computer clubs during the month, teaching Smartphones, Google Photos, and making your own website. When at the RV parks, we stayed in our sweet Roadtrek camper van. For the clubs we were home in our townhouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Episode 137 – will be recorded live on Sunday Mar 4 at 2pm Eastern, The topic is understanding the Accounts on your phone and how they hold your stuff.

By the way, our pictures, Blogs, Web Albums, maps, and videos are all examples of what we teach. You can learn how to plan, preserve, and share your travels (or your life.) It makes the experience that much more enjoyable to get creative and share pictures, maps, stories, and movies with friends and family. Check out our Learning Library of Tutorial Videos, just go to GeeksOnTour.com and click the menu for Tutorials. There are plenty of free videos in addition to our members-only content to whet your appetite for learning.

Is your own website secure?

You don’t want visitors to your website to see the message above! But, that’s exactly what will happen if you don’t take action before July. If you have a personal website, blog, small business or club website, please check to see if your address bar includes the padlock and httpS. If not, read on ..

Take your photos from so-so to stunning with Snapseed

Do you go to beautiful places and take pictures that don’t do the place justice? I am often disappointed when I look at my pictures, thinking “It looked so much better than that” I almost never accept a photo as it was taken. At the very least I crop and apply the “Auto” filter just using Google Photos. But sometimes I want more, that’s when I use Snapseed. In the example above, the enhanced photo took a click on tools, then HDR Scape in Snapseed. The text was added with Snapseed’s text tool.

Keyboard shortcut tricks you can use every day on your iPhone or Android

If you regularly watch our “What does this button do?” show, you may already know these. Read the article anyway, just to be sure! These tips are excerpted from the show notes to Episode 75 of What does this button do?

Long Press is like a Right-ClickLong Press means the same thing as Touch and Hold. It’s not pushing on the screen, just touch the screen then leave your finger touching the screen and see if something happens.

GeeksOnTour.com Website Tips

We’re updating the website all the time. There are nearly 1,000 articles, 500 videos, and 132 What Does this Button Do Episodes. How do you find what you want? Here are some tips on how to get to the best stuff!

That’s all for now. We hope you learned something. Your next issue will be next month. Any questions, please visit our forum. If you like this newsletter, please forward it on to your friends! If you received this issue forwarded by a friend you can subscribe to get your own copy delivered to your in box – it’s free. You can also visit the archives of past newsletters,

Happy Computing!

The Geeks on Tour website is an online learning library for Travelers who want to learn to use their computers and mobile devices for managing digital photos, making blogs, using maps and other online resources. Anyone can watch our free videos, read articles on our Computer Tips for Travelers Blog, sign up for our free monthly newsletter. A small fee makes you a ‘member‘ and you can then view any of our 450+ video tutorials on these subjects in our Learning LIbrary.